Spinnerette



B. POWELL July 6, 1965 SPINNERETTE Filed June 25, 1962 L L E W MP ma D E R F ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,192,562 SPINNERETTE Fred B. Poweil, Decatur, Ala, assignor to Monsanto Company, a corporation of Delaware Filed June 25, 1%2, Ser. No. 294,747 3 Claims. (Cl. 18-8) This invention relates to spinnerettes and more particularly to spinnerettes for forming conjugate filaments.

In the manufacturing of known spinnerettes for forming conjugate filaments great expense and diificulty are encountered. The holes in the spinnerette nozzle, must be precisely formed. It is Well known that the formation of these holes is an expensive and tedious process. Also, the remainder of the spinnerette must be very accurate in configuration and dimension. Furthermore, a large investment of time and money in a conjugate spinnerette does not insure that the desired results will be obtained. Also, the known conjugate spinnerettes are limited to spinning two polymers and cannot be used to spin a conjugate filament of more than two polymers. Furthermore, control of the spinning solutions through conventional conjugate spinning orifices is difficult. With this in mind, one of the objects of this invention is to provide a novel and improved spinnerette.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel and improved spinnerette of simple design and manufacture.

A further object of this invention is to provide a conjugate spinnerette which is laminated in construction.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a spinnerette capable of spinning conjugate filaments of three or more spinning solutions.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a conjugate spinnerette which is inexpensive and easy to fabricate.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a spinnerette wherein slots in a plurality of laminations meet to form a conjugate spinning orifice.

Another object of this invention is to provide a spinnerette wherein a plurality of laminations are sandwiched together and are provided with slots which meet to form conjugate spinning orifices.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a conjugate spinnerette wherein the amounts of each spinning solution going to form the filament can be very precisely controlled.

One embodiment of the present invention contemplates a spinnerette which is made up of a pair of thin sheets or laminations sandwiched between a pair of supporting plates. The sheets are provided with slots which meet at common points at the edges of the sheets, the slots in each sheet extending away from these common points in different directions. The remote end of each slot is connected to a source of spinning solution. The spinning solutions are forced through the slots, meet at the common points on the edges of the sheets and exit from the spinnerette as conjugate filaments.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent when the following detailed description is read in conjunction with the drawing, in which FIGURE 1 is an exploded perspective view of a spin nerette illustrating the principles of the invention and showing the stacked arrangement of the slotted sheets held between the plates, and

FIGURE 2 is an exploded perspective View illustrating the manner in which the sheets can be arranged to form a conjugate filament which is made up of three diiferent spinning compositions.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, a plurality of pairs of thin sheets or laminations 11 and 12 are shown ice sandwiched between plates 13 as illustrated in FIGURE 1. The whole assembly is clamped tightly together by bolts 16 which extend through holes in the plates and sheets. This assembly will be referred to hereinafter; as the spinnerette.

Each of the sheets or laminations 11 is provided with spaced, parallel slots Zll and 21 which extend at an angle from the edge of the sheet and terminate in holes 24 and 25, respectively. The holes 24, and consequently the slots 20, are connected through holes 28 in the sheets 12 and bores 29 in the plates 13 to a manifold 30 in the uppermost plate 13. The bores 29 and the holes 24 and 28 are aligned to form first conduits or passageways for the flow of a spinning solution through the assembled sheets and plates. Since each of the slots is connected to these conduits or passageways, the spinning solutions will flow out of the spinnerette through these slots. The paths of the spinning solution through the first passageways are indicated by arrows 31.

The holes 25, and consequently the slots 21, are connected through holes 35 in the sheets 12 and bores 36 in the plates 13 to a manifold 38 in the lowermost plate 13. The holes and and the bores 36 are aligned to form second conduits or passageways through which spinning solution flows to and through the slots 21. The paths of the second spinning solution through the second passage ways are indicated by arrows 39.

Each of the sheets or laminations 12 is provided with spaced, parallel slots as which extend from the edges of the sheet to the holes 35 so that the spinning solution from the manifold 38 in the lowermost plate 13 will fiowout of the spinnerette through the slots it).

The ends of the slots 41 are overlapped by the ends of the slots 20 in the sheets 11, the ends of the slots 21 and 40 terminating at common points or locations on the face of the spinnerette, so that a first spinning solution flowing through the slots 26 joins a second spinning solution flowing through the slots 4% to form a conjugate filament (not shown). Thus, the slots 20 and 40 meet at the face of the spinnerette to define conjugate spinning orifices or nozzles.

Each of the sheets or laminations 12 is also provided with spaced parallel slots 41 which extend from the edge of the sheet 12 to the holes 28, the slots 40 and 41 in the sheet 12 being parallel. Thus, spinning solution from the manifold 30 in the uppermost plate 13 flows to and through the slots 41. The ends of the slots 41 are overlapped by the ends of the slots 21 in the sheets 11 to form conjugate spinning orifices or nozzles. In other words, the slots 21 and 41 terminate at common points or locations on the face of the spinnerette. Thus, the first spinning solution flowing through the slots 41 joins the second spinning solution flowing through the slots 21 to form conjugate filaments, the two streams of spinning solution meeting at the face of the spinnerette.

The first spinning solution is withdrawn from a source 48 by a pump 49 and forced into the manifold 36) in the uppermost plate 13 at a predetermined rate and pressure. The first spinning solution or composition then flows through the first passageway (refer to arrows 31) to and through the slots 20 in the sheets 11 and the slots 41 in the sheets 12.

The second spinning solution is withdrawn from a source 52 by a pump 53 and forced into the manifold 38 in the lowermost plate 13 under a predetermined pressure and rate. The second spinning solution or composition then flows through the second passageway (refer to arrows 39) to and through the slots 21 in the sheets 11 and the slots 40 in the sheets 12.

The first spinning solution flowing through the slots Ztl and 41 are combined with the second spinning solution flowing through the slots 40 and 21, respectively, in themanner described above to form conjugate filaments. Since the flow of each spinning solution can be precisely controlled by adjusting the pump speeds and since the two solutions do not meet until they reach thetace of the spinnerette, the amount of each solutiongoing into the spun filament can be very precisely controlled. The fact that the two solutions meet at the spinningorifice insures a very sharp line of demarcation between the different compositions in the spun filament.

Since the cross sectional area of each spinning orifice is the combined cross sectional areas of the slots 20 and 40 (2-1 and 41), the sheets 11 and 12 areof a necessity very thin. These slots may be stamped from the sheets in a mass production operations. Thus, the expense and time involved in making this spinnerette is very little. It will be noticed that, while the slots 20 and 40 (2'1 and 41) extend away frornthe edges of the sheets 11 and :12, respectively, at different angles, both sheets have identical configurations, i.e., the sheet 12 is made identical to the sheet 11 and then turned over or reversed and assembled against the sheet 11.

FIGURE 2 shows a spinnerette which is utilized for forming conjugate filaments made up of three spinning solutions. Three sheets 60, 61 and 62, which are provided with slots 66, 67 and 68, respectively, are clamped together so that the ends of the slots 66-68 meet and overlap each other at a common point or location on the face of the spinnerette to .form a spinning orifice or nozzle. The slots 66-68 diverge from these intersections at the face of the spinnerette to holes 71, 72 and 73, respectively.

Three spinning solutions are fed to the holes 7'1-73 frommanifolds such as 30 and 38 (FIGURE 1). These three solutions or compositions flow through their respective slots 66-68 and meet at the face of the spinnerctte, thereby forming a conjugate filament whic is made up of the three solutions.

It is obvious that even more than three sheets can be sandwiched together to form a spinnerette, which is capable of forming a conjugate filament made up of four or more different spinning compositions. The number of sheets that can be used is limited only by the size and spacing of theslots andthe holes to which the slots lead.

It will be readily apparent that the spinnerette of the present invention is simple in construction and manufacture. The usual diflicult problems and operations encountered in the manufacture of conventional spinnerettes are eliminated. Also, it is not necessary to discard this spinnerette when one of the spinning orifices becomes defective from wear, etc., as in the case of conventional spinnerettes. Instead, the sheet making up the defective orifice is merely replaced. Although conventional spinnerettes are very expensive, when wear (caused-by the solution flowing through the hole) renders even one or two of the spinning orifices oversize the whole spinnerette must be discarded. This expensive practice is completely eliminated by the present invention.

Another disadvantage of conventional spinne-rettes is that the ruining of one hole during the manufacturing process may ruin the salability of the spinneret-te. Thus, in a conventional spinnerette having 20,000 holes, the ruining of the last hole in the manufacturing of the spinnerette may mean that the cost of forming the first 19,999 holes is a loss. This problem is completely overcome by the present invention, since the sheets forming the spinning orifices can be inspected before the assembling operation to insure that only acceptable sheets are used.

It is to be understood that the embodiments disclosed herein are merely illustrative and that these embodiments can be altered or modified and that numerous other em- Foodiments can be contemplated-which will fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A spinnerette, comprising a first sheet, a second sheet positioned against the first sheet, and a pair of plates positioned on opposite sides of the sheets, said plates and sheets 'beingprovided with aligned first apertures defining a first fluid passageway, said plates and sheets-also being provided with aligned second apertures defining a second fluid passageway spaced from said first passageway, said first sheet having therein a slot extending from a point on the edge of said first sheet to said first passageway, said second sheet havingtherein a slot extending from the second passageway to the edge of the secondsheet and overlapping the slot in the first sheet fro-rnsaid point to a second point spaced from said edge of said first sheet so that spinning compositions flowing through the slots meet before leaving said slots.

2. A spinning system, comprising a first sheet, a second sheet positioned against the first sheet, a pair of-plates mounted on opposite sides of the sheets, said plates and sheets having therein a plurality of aligned first apertures defininga first fluid passageway, said plates and sheets also havlng therein a plurality of aligned second apertures defining a second fluid passageway spaced from said first passageway, said first sheet having therein a slot extending from a point on the edge thereof to the first passageway, said second sheet having therein a slot extending fromthe second passageway to the-edge of the sheet and overlapping the slot in the first sheet from said point to a second point spaced from the edges of the sheets-so that spinning solutions flowing through the slots meet before leaving said slots, means for forcing a first spinning solution through the first passageway, and means for forcing a sec- :ond spinning solution through the second passageway.

3. A spinnerette, comprising afirst shcet having'therein a slot extending at an acute angle from an-edge-of the sheet into said sheet, asecond sheet having a slot identical to the slot in the first sheet, said sheets being positioned in face-to-faoe engagement with the end portions of the slots overlapping each other, one of said sheets being reversed so that the slots diverge and extend away from the edges of the plates in different directions, a pair of plates positioned on opposite sides of the sheets, one of said plates having therein a passageway leading to one of the slots, the other of said plates having therein a passageway leading-to the other slot, and means connected to the passageway for forcing spinning compositions through the slots to form a conjugate filament.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,031,387 2/36 Schwarz 18--8 2,428,046 9/47 Sisson et a1. 1S8 2,861,319 11/58 Breen.

3,006,028 10/61 Calhoun.

WILLIAM J. STEPHENSON, Primary Examiner.

CHARLES W. LANHAM, Examiner. 

1. A SPINNERETTE, COMPRISING A FIRST SHEET, A SECOND SHEET POSITIONED AGAINST THE FIRST SHEET, AND A PAIR OF PLATES POSITIONED ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE SHEETS, SAID PLATES AND SHEETS BEING PROVIDED WITH ALIGNED FIRST APERTURES DEFINING A FIRST FLUID PASSAGEWAY, SAID PLATES AND SHEETS ALSO BEING PROVIDED WITH ALIGNED SECOND APERTURES DEFINING A SECOND FLUID PASSAGEWAY SPACED FROM SAID FIRST DEFINING A SECOND FIRST SHEET HAVING THEREIN A SLOT EXTENDING FROM A POINT ON THE EDGE OF SAID FIRST SHEET TO SAID FIRST PASSAGEWAY, SAID SECOND SHEET HAVING THEREIN A SLOT EXTENDING FROM THE SECOND PASSAGEWAY TO THE EDGE OF THE SECOND SHEET AND OVERLAPPING THE SLOT IN THE FIRST SHEET FROM SAID POINT TO A SECOND POINT SPACED FROM SAID EDGE OF SAID FIRST SHEET SO THAT SPINNING COMPOSITIONS FLOWING THROUGH THE SLOTS MEET BEFORE LEAVING SAID SLOTS. 